Dance and All That Jazz

Friday January 27, 2011.
The lights dimmed. Chatter died. A black and white glow flickered on from the back of the auditorium. A jungle crept in from the corners. The crowd sat silently with eyes riveted on the orange-clad group pushing a giant wheel onto the stage. The music pounded through a crescendo. The stage burst into a flurry of action.

And what you see, dearest readers, is the beginning of my Friday night adventure. My good friend Kristin invited me to get tickets with her to go see this show, and it was phenomenol.

We started out with a handful of contemporary dance pieces, like one of Tooele High's Dance Company performances, but with lots more guys and more couple dancing, but contemporary style. Then they had a 10-minute intermission. That's where it really picked up.

The curtains rose, and there sat Synthesis.

That's right guys. BYU's Jazz Band.

They blew me away. They had flutes. Flutes!! And a clarinet. The instructor played very nice solos on both of them. And the guitar and base, lovely solos. The pianist was phenomenol.

Although the flute and clarinet solos are dearest to my heart, I must say that the trumpets . . .

I can't even say it. Oh my gosh. Such gorgeous high notes. It was like angels singing. Clear. Pure. Beautiful. High. It was fantastic.

And what made it even better was having the dancers dance to the jazz band playing. It was incredible. Undescribable. You just had to be there.

One of the alto saxophone soloists made such unbelievable sounds that I have never heard in a high school jazz band. I was hanging on the edge of my seat with my jaw on the floor.

As a treat in the midst of all this, the dancers did a tap show for us, and it was hilarious. Very good, and very talented, but hilarious.

So yeah. That was my Friday night that I should've blogged about on Saturday, but totally wasn't even thinking about it. So I share this exciting news with you now before I move on to my Japanese homework. As they say in Japan, ja ne!